Using siloed approaches within the domains of research, clinical practice, community, and policy may be a contributor to the limited success of obesity interventions to date and the large racial/ethnic disparities in obesity prevalence. On their own, efforts within each of these four domains hold some potential to improve healthy eating and physical activity, but the next frontier is to strategically integrate across these critical domains to advance high-impact efforts to reduce obesity disparities. The proposed R13 conference entitled, Matchmaking in Science: Integration across Research, Clinical Practice, Community, and Policy to Address Obesity Disparities was designed to move the science and practice of integration forward by addressing four aims, including: (1) train and build capacity in integration science and practice, (2) engage in real-time matchmaking of integrative teams across research, clinical practice, community, and policy domains, (3) establish a national network and database of integration scientists and practitioners, and (4) advance methods for evaluating integration science and practice. This conference will be delivered in two parts over one and one half days. The first half-day of the conference will bring together leaders in the field of integration science and practice with the aim of working on a state of the field of integration paper and to identify key skills and approaches for training and building capacity in integration science and practice (conference aim 1). The next full day of the conference will bring together scientists and practitioners in the field of obesity who are interested in moving their siloed or partially integrative work towards an integrative approach, in addition to early stage investigators and trainees from underrepresented communities who are the next generation of integration scientists. To further address conference aim 1, the second full day of the conference will start with a capacity-building module to train attendees in integration terminology, frameworks, and integration praxis and methods; this will include a self-assessment of mastery skills for integration practice. To address the second and third conference aims, real-time matchmaking across the domains of research, clinical practice, community, and policy will occur to advance integrative relationships and to create a national network and matchmaking database of integration scientists and practitioners. For example, one activity will be a ?BIG Integrative Idea? matchmaking competitive pitch, in which integrative teams composed of all four domains of integration will be matched to develop a big idea to address obesity disparities. To address the fourth conference aim, evaluation of integration science and practice will be addressed to ensure this powerful work is being documented and measured. Outputs of the conference include a state-of-the art paper on integration science and the creation of a matchmaking database via MatchApp to facilitate matchmaking of integrative projects. We are requesting co-sponsorship of this R13 by NHLBI (primary sponsor) and NIMHD (secondary sponsor), based on their similar missions to address obesity disparities.
The proposed Matchmaking in Science: Integration across Research, Clinical Practice, Community, and Policy to Address Obesity Disparities R13 conference will: (a) train and build capacity in integration science and practice, (b) facilitate real-time matchmaking of integrative teams, (c) establish a national network and database of integration scientists and practitioners, and (d) advance evaluation of integration science and practice to target obesity disparities.
